On longevity of sportsmen
There has been an interesting discussion on the Rust these past weeks on how you can measure the greatness of a sportsman by the length of time he/she achieves in their sport. However the converse to this is the sportsman whose best days are behind him but does not realise this. The best example of this is Tiger Woods. He allegedly received $1m to play in the Dubai classic and after carding 5 over in his first round withdrew because of back problems. This was announced to the press corps by his agent Mark Stahlberg who said he was suffering from spasms. The 41 year old has won 73 USPGA events and 14 majors but his days of dominance when in his trademark red polo shirt he saw everyone off in the final round are numbered.
The golf channel on SKY often has a excellent retro feature. I happened to switch on yesterday to see a feature on Tiger Woods’ first PGA win at Las Vegas. Fresh faced, smiling, enthusiastic he seemed a distant relative to the sourpuss of modern times. Given that his appearance was such a draw you might have thought that at least he could have made the announcement to withdraw and sign a few golf balls and caps. After Phil Mickelson completed his round at Phoenix yesterday he must have spent 5 minutes doing this which is why Lefty is such a popular player and Tiger is not. The collective age of Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson was over 80 as they played out the most enthralling Open since the duel in the sun between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
Golf swings do place a strain on the back but so does tennis and this do not seem to affect Roger Federer winning his 19th major in Melbourne.
I actually feel Tiger, despite his stellar record, fails to cut it as a legend because he lacks that gallantry and sportsmanship that was epitomised by 18 time major winner Jack Nicklaus. In another retro feature Jack Nicklaus’s concession of a crucial putt to Tony Jacklin was rightfully remembered. Tiger Woods by contrast cannot refer to such sportsmanship and his Ryder Cup record is not that impressive. Longevity, sportsmanship, personality, prowess are all ingredients of that alchemy that defines a sporting great.
